


Pluperfect

by Oleander Black (Oleander)



Series: IPSO FACTO [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, HP: EWE, M/M, Mpreg, preslash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-03
Updated: 2012-01-03
Packaged: 2017-10-29 01:08:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/314172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oleander/pseuds/Oleander%20Black
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff"><p>A/N: This is, I think, a very different vibe from Draco's chapter, and it's supposed to be; Harry's outlook is very different from Draco's. It's a lot of exposition, but I think I needed to put it here to set up Harry's rationale going into future interactions. Hope you are enjoying. As always, constructive remarks are greatly appreciated. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the first chapter, reading those makes my day.</p><p>Also, I seem to have created a habit of forgetting to update AO3 until a few days after the FFn post.  I will try to be better about this, as of yet there are no differences between the version here and the version of FF.  I hope that will remain the case, but FF has very different rules about content, and I may eventually be forced to self-censor there.  The full version will appear here no matter what.</p></blockquote>





	Pluperfect

The moment Malfoy leaves his office, Harry reviews the vision. It is, of course, against regulations to do so, but he has to know. Taunting like that is no longer like Malfoy, but Harry had forgotten that for a moment, and now, should Malfoy return to his old ways, he has ammunition. Harry needs to know what that ammunition is.

Malfoy's visions are always exceptionally clear and concise, and although Harry knows Malfoy is usually a scryer, this one conforms to Malfoy's pattern. The vision is brief, no more than a few minutes in duration, and it leaves Harry shaking.

It is impossible.

It is impossible because Harry knows he can't have children.

It is impossible because it would mean that Harry's golden future with Ginny was destroyed for no reason at all.

Harry makes a decision. He created the spells that IPSO FACTO uses to record and catalog visions, and it is hardly a thought to know how to remove one that was entered into the system. In the blink of an eye, no one knows that Draco Malfoy reported a vision moments earlier. Harry takes the now-ordinary paper and the vial with the vision-memory, and stashes them in his desk.

For the rest of the day, Harry is on edge. He has particularly bad luck-today is the day that he is on Recording duty until three, so he sits, hoping no one will notice his agitation, and does his job. At three he switches over to Reviewing, and carries Malfoy's vision inside his shirt while he retrieves the queue of prophecies that have been slated for him from the processing room. At five, his workday is over, and Harry disapparates directly from the Department of Mysteries' backdoor, rather than taking the elevators up and walking through the Atrium as he usually would.

Harry lives in Grimmauld Place, and he hand the house have come to a kind of understanding. It is still tempermental at best, but Harry has successfully cleaned it from top to bottom, and redecorated in a way that makes it warm and comfortable for him while paying homage to the Blacks. As witness the library, which is were he arrives. Harry snaps his fingers to light the sconces, rather than casting the fire spell, which makes them gutter and turn purple for the rest of the week (after his fire spell has been bounced back in his face). He taps the clawed armchair on the back twice so that it pulls out enough for him to sit, and waves a hand carelessly at the fireplace to light it, and beckons the desk over. Then he summons a quill, ink and parchment, and produces the prophecy and the sheet he had begun filling in for Records from where he had them stashed in his coat. The summoning spell is the first thing that requires thought in this routine.

Harry takes a deep breath, and reviews the prophecy again. It is no less upsetting this time. He sits in silence for a full ten minutes before he tries again. This time, he manages to keep himself calm enough to take note of some details-only a few, but still, enough.

The girl is certainly his: she has his hair—jet black and straying from the braid. Her eyes are shaped like his, as are the stubborn set to her mouth and chin. Not Ginny's. No, Ginny is with Aidan now, and the Tutshill Tornadoes have the only husband-and-wife team of Beaters in the league. But the girl could never be Ginny's. No Weasley child would ever be that freckle-free.

Harry has to wonder what will happen between him and the Weasleys that would make his daughter think he'd be upset at the thought of her being in love with one. He scratches out a few notes, stashes them and the prophecy in the locking drawer, rises, and dismisses the furniture with a wave of his hand. He'll learn nothing more from the prophecy tonight, but he does have other avenues to pursue, he is very good at what he does.

Not too many people realize just how much Harry has shaped the Prophecy division in the Department of Mysteries. Prophecies are catalogued and stored, yes, but Harry has also added a few things.

When the Department had approached him about Prophecy, Harry had been hesitant. Then they'd brought up investigative prophecy and prophecy investigation, and Harry had been hooked. He now worked as a liason between the Auror Division and scryers like Malfoy on a regular basis, but half his time was spent tracking down the elements of prophecies, dropping a quiet hint the ears of the right people once they knew all they could know, and generally not letting people feel like puppets, as he had a time or two.

In this most unofficial case, Harry knows where to begin. His first reaction is his first line of inquiry. How is it possible for him to have a biological child?

Harry tosses Floo powder into the fire, steps in, and calls out "Healer's Hill!" He spins with the flames, and just catches himself in time for his exit—not graceful, but at least he doesn't fall on his face. A quick charm strips the soot from his clothing, and he lifts his head and greets the secretary-new since the last time he's seen Xavier at the office. She flicks her wand to send an alert to the inner office, and Harry sits down to wait.

Harry hates Xavier's office. It's too clean, too nice, and that jars with the awful, humiliating memories of Xavier handing over the results of their fertility tests, the stony look on Ginny's face, and the devastation he'd felt when she'd turned to him and asked for a divorce, without further thought.

Fortunately, Xavier's arrival dragged him from those thoughts. The man had turned into a good friend during the time that Harry had avoided all the Weasleys in the wake of the divorce. That is why Harry is here now, and not getting his diagnosis checked by another Healer.

"Harry?" Xavier asks. "What are you doing here?"

Harry winces. Xavier knows how much he hates this place. "Do you have some time? Something important has come up, and I need to ask you some questions."

Xavier blinks and throws a glance at the secretary.

"You have an hour and half until the Tattings come in," she reports.

"Come in, then, Harry," Xavier says, and beckons toward his office door.

Harry follows, closes the door, locks and wards it twice, and then turns to Xavier. He can't help noticing that the room has changed. The décor is similar, but the walls are now a soothing sage green instead of white, and the contents of the walls have been rearranged.

"How can I help you, Harry?"

Harry frowns. "I ran into something…it implied that…oh Merlin, how do I says this?" He meets Xavier's eyes. "How sure are you of my diagnosis?"

It is Xavier's turn to frown. "Harry, you know I've checked you over three times. I'm as sure as it is possible to be that you will never sire children."

"Then why did one of my seers bring in a vision that shows me twenty years from now with a girl who is clearly my biological daughter?" Harry snarls, frustrated.

Xavier furrows his brow. "Harry," he says softly. "I never said—you came in with Ginevra, so you only got one fertility test—you can't sire children—that is, I didn't think you were—I tried to feel you out and make the offer, but—Ginny obviously wasn't interested in the other route—"

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" Harry shouts.

Xavier's concern is set in every line of his face. "Sit, Harry," he sighs, and rounds his desk to take his own seat.

Harry doesn't move.

"Sit," Xavier repeats, and Harry obeys stiffly.

Xavier glances down, then up at Harry again. His face is pinched, and his eyes are sad. "Harry," he begins. "The day you and Ginevra first came to me, you will recall that you were given a questionnaire with some very personal, but very important questions for your diagnosis. Both you and she indicated that you were exclusive, participated in no experimental sex practices, and were completely heterosexual."

"I am!"

"Harry, please," Xavier says. "Calm down. What I mean to say is, that based on that questionnaire, you were only tested to find out if you could sire children."

"What else would you have tested for?" Harry exclaims, furious. "Next you'll be telling me that I can get pregnant!"

"That's exactly what I could still test for, Harry."

"What?"

"Your answers to the questionnaire convinced me that you would never be open to having sexual relations with a man, so I never tested to see if you had a viable protowomb."

Harry stands up. "This isn't funny, Xavier."

"No, it isn't," Xavier retorts. " _Sit down_. I am trying to tell you that if you want biological children, it is entirely possible that you could have them, if you are willing to have sex with a man. I can test you now, if you like."

"I don't…how…I don't understand," Harry mutters.

"How does it work?" Xavier is in comfortable territory now, he has the answers. "Most wizards have a protowomb, semen and the magical surge that accompanies orgasm can activate it and shove your organs around so that you have room for a baby. Wizards only carry for six months, it's too dangerous to go longer, and the fetus' growth is accelerated by the same…surges…that lead to conception."

Harry feels as if he's going to vomit. His stomach rolls unpleasantly, and he is certain that he is turning green. But—children. And he's got nothing against queers, really. Couldn't he try? His stomach flip-flops again. Unbidden, the memory of Malfoy, straightlaced and agitated, staring at him with pale silver-grey eyes, comes to the forefront of his mind.

Harry has seen those eyes recently. He has seen those eyes less than an hour ago, when he reviewed Malfoy's prophecy.

Harry rises on unsteady limbs, thanks Xavier, and does not notice the Healer standing to chase him down as he stumbles out of the office and Apparates home.

The next day, Harry calls in sick. Then he takes a month off from work out of accumulated leave. He places sneak-spells to alert him if any other prophecies concerning him are filed, or if Draco Malfoy returns, and departs for Scotland. He needs to be at Hogwarts. He needs to be far away from Draco Malfoy and prophecies that will ruin his life. He does not consider that Draco Malfoy is under contract to provide Hogwarts with more than half of its potions. Hogwarts has always been the place Harry goes to find himself.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: This is, I think, a very different vibe from Draco's chapter, and it's supposed to be; Harry's outlook is very different from Draco's. It's a lot of exposition, but I think I needed to put it here to set up Harry's rationale going into future interactions. Hope you are enjoying. As always, constructive remarks are greatly appreciated. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the first chapter, reading those makes my day.
> 
> Also, I seem to have created a habit of forgetting to update AO3 until a few days after the FFn post. I will try to be better about this, as of yet there are no differences between the version here and the version of FF. I hope that will remain the case, but FF has very different rules about content, and I may eventually be forced to self-censor there. The full version will appear here no matter what.


End file.
